Interesting perspective. Sounds somewhat like the argument alexiuss makes here in the thread as well - alexiuss doesn't care if 10 million people, or 1000, or no one reads their books. This sounds foreign to me, if I wrote a book I'd want as many as possible to read it. And certainly a great part of that wish is due to validation, that I want others to see me and think I did something good.

But even if you remove the validation, I'd still want to do something positive for the world even if only I knew I had done it. I foresee myself laying on my deathbed thinking back on my life. Did I make a positive difference? If the answer is only that I completed a difficult game, ran a marathon and learned to juggle then I will be disappointed in myself. If, on the other hand I built something that others can use, or helped someone - whether they know I did it or not - I will feel I contributed to the world and take comfort from it. So what I describe as "Fulfillment of purpose" is different from validation, even if I'll happily admit to also seeking validation.